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By Jaclyn Reiss, Town Correspondent

Three restaurant chains – Panera Bread, Chipotle Mexican Grill, and Five Guys Burgers and Fries – will appear before Waltham City Council this fall to finalize special fast food permits that would allow them to establish new restaurants at the Main Street Marketplace in Waltham.

Panera’s permit will be reviewed tonight at the City Council's Committee of the Whole meeting, and if councilors are satisfied with the request, they will send it to the city’s law department for language and conditions review - one of the final steps in the process, according to the Waltham city clerk’s office.

Panera hoped to include a drive-through in its initial plans, but city officials recommended dropping the plans, which the company did.

Five Guys will also appear before City Council next Monday, Oct. 22, in a public hearing for their special permit. The chain hopes to open a Waltham restaurant in the “early part of 2013,” according to the company’s official Twitter account today.

Chipotle’s permit has already been tentatively accepted by the City Council and sent to the law department for review, the clerk’s office said.

Typically, the law department sends the special permit wording back to the City Council within three weeks. The petitioner is then called before the council for any further questioning before the permit’s approval or denial, according to the city clerk’s office.

The city has until Nov. 30 to act upon the permits, giving them a total of 90 days to decide on the special permits.

The Main Street Marketplace formerly hosted a Ford car dealership for over three decades before it closed down. Property owners started building about 10 new storefronts at the beginning of 2012, and the construction is nearing completion, according to the clerk’s office.

Dedham-based iParty already opened a store in the plaza last week, just in time for Halloween, according to the company’s website.